Psionic Abilities
Telepath, Telepathy, Telekinetic, ESP, others Psionics is the ability to use mental power to affect the world outside of your body. It is usually broken down into a number of abilities. Most psionic abilities are limited to "Line of Sight". Telepathy The Telepath has the basic ability to read the lucid thoughts in the conscious mind of sentient creatures. The thoughts of animals (Intelligence under 3) are generally too unfocused for a Telepath to get anything more than a "carrier wave" that the creature is alive. Telepaths can communicate to other telepaths they know over great distance and to non telepaths under more stringent conditions. A Telepath has a number of abilities that are innate and a number that must be learned. Innate does not imply that the Telepath automatically knows that they can do these things, but that they can do them once they are taught or stumble into the ability. Other abilities, better referred to as skills require a teacher as they cannot be learned without some manner of instruction. Empath Empaths function in much the same way as the Telepath. The difference is that Empaths receive and broadcast thoughts on the more primitive, subconscious level of the emotions. The end result is the Empath can tell how someone feels, but not what is on their mind. An Empath can also broadcast emotions, sending waves, either focused or not, of a chosen emotion to the beings around him. Empaths have a better time reading non-sentient animals than do Telepaths, since most animal's thoughts deal on this lower level of consciousness. Unless a Psychic link is established Empathy works only within Line of Sight no matter how well known an individual is. Who has it? Telepathy is by the evidence the most common Psionic ability. Currently noted are Humans, Ane, Vulcans, and, Tanuki as possessing this ability. Humans being the only race that does not have it universally. It has been mentioned by several Ane that Humans have a natural ability innate in the species. "waking up" this ability is not safe unless tightly controlled, and even then the subject could end up a mental cripple. Not a reasonable risk to take. Telekinetic Also Psycokinetic The ability to move physical objects by will alone. The accuracy and strength of this ability can vary widely. Extremely widely to the point is broken down into sub-categories. Besides the "mundane" moving of macro physical objects there are: *'Pyrokinetic:' (Or Firestarter) This variety can increase the molecular action of a substance until combustion occurs. How wide an area that can be started depends of the strength of the individual. They usually have no dexterity or ability to move macro objects at all. Charlie McGee (Firestarter) is the most infamous of this class. *'Eletriokentic:' These people can work with and manipulate electrical currents from the macro to the micro. Again performance varies widely from mainly handing macro currents such as lightning to the ability to manipulate computers. The later is best typified by Crystaline. Hilda Fliesschenbaum of the VCPD is a more typical example handing current on the household to electronics level. *'Cryokentic:' The ability to freeze things. Cryokentics slow molecular action to the point of "freezing". the ability is most notable when used on water. This ability is often considered the same as the pyrokinetic. Students of the science explain that the only reason a given person cannot do both is psychological limitations, they don't think they can. Both involve manipulating molecular speed. Shapshifters A hotly debated subject as to whether this is a psionic ability or pure magic. Those that can shapechange outside of werewolves always rate high on tests of psionic ability even if they show no other abilities. Placing it under Telekinetics is also a controversial placement. The pros argue that it is a manipulation of matter. The antis point out that they manipulate only themselves and to a much higher degree than kinetics. Psihealer By concentration of the energy of the mind physical damage to the body is healed. The method is thorough and quick compared to normal body repair. The psihealer must link to the patient and "learn" the body's cell memory to make the repair. Again classing this ability under telekinetic abilities is controversial. Ane can do it, but cannot perform any telekinetic feats. Others note that the classifications are not so clean. Ane can heal, they cannot do flesh shaping, something that Human healers can. The flaw is with our understanding of the abilities, not the abilities themselves. The most noted Psihealer was the Leoman Diter who demonstrated the ability to restore lost limbs in a matter of hours. Who has it? The majority of Telekinetics are Humans. The ability is rarely seen in Vulcans and often in Tanuki. It is never seen in Ane. Teleportation Teleporters can transport themselves and a certain amount of weight over and above themselves to any location that they are familiar with. Psionic teleports have even greater risks of misadventure than the teleport spell if teleporting to locations less than well known, but with fewer risks at well known locations. Who has it? Ane and some Tanuki are noted as teleporters. Human teleporters have been reported on Greyhawke ESP Or Clairsentience; is the ability to sense beyond the limitation of the fives senses and the body. The five main types of clairsentient abilities are Clairvoyance, Clairaudience, Psychometry, Finding, and Precognitives. Other types are possible. A Clairsentient can possess more than one of these abilities. Clairaudience This ability enables the psionic to concentrate upon some locale and hear in his mind any noise within a radius of the target of their attention. Distance is not a factor, but the locale must be known, or a person or thing familiar to the psionic must be present in the target location. Only sounds that are normally heard by the psionic can be detected. Mind you that current disability is not a factor. If the Psi could have heard the sound, but is currently deaf, they will hear it. Clairvoyance This ability enables the psionic to concentrate upon some locale and see in his mind anything within normal vision of the target of their attention. Distance is not a factor, but the locale must be known, or a person or thing familiar to the psionic must be present in the target location. Images of places, things, or persons can be grasped from the mind of another if that person is willing, and sometimes even if they are not. Sight is limited to the light conditions under which the psionic can normally see. As above even natural blindness does not necessarily stop this ability. Finders Psionic finding is sort of a locate object. The finder must gain a mental image of the thing to be found and then plays a game of "hot & cold" to locate it. When the finder is facing in the direction of the sought for object, they will feel "right" about it, the closer they are the "righter" they feel. If the person or object is more than 5 miles away the feeling will be too faint to give an indication of direction. As with other ESP the cost of finding depends on how the image is obtained. A finder can also attempt to locate people or animals. A specific person or animal must be sought. Psychometry This ability is the reading of psychic auras both on people and objects. In the case of persons the ability is passive, and does not require any resistance to be overcome. It does require that the psionic concentrate on the subject. Proper use of the ability requires time and skill. While auras can be seen, interpreting what is seen is not automatic. The Psychometrist can easily identify someone once they have seen them. They can attempt to tell when someone is attempting to deceive for example, but not until they have experienced deception, and learned the meaning of that aural change. This is not the best use of the ability. While a general feel for a person is easy to gain, specific emotion or thought barely flickers and this is work better left to the Telepath or Empath. The better use for Psychometry is in detecting residual auras on objects. Something in the long possession of a person will "feel" like them. If that person's aura is known, an object can be linked to them. If they are not known the object aura can be used to know them when they are seen. The cost for this use is dependent on the strength of the aura. The rule is the longer owned the stronger the aura. If an object is owned for less than six months, no aura will imprint. Strong emotion can also imprint on objects. A dagger used to kill might feel of fear and anger. A kerchief long cried in might have the lingering sorrow in it. A very changed moment might even imprint a scene on the object. Murder is the most common imprint. When such an imprint is left on an object the Clairvoyant can attempt to capture it. It is possible for an image to be so strongly imprinted that it never fades. These images impose themselves, and must be resisted as an attack. If the image overcomes the PD of the Clairvoyant they will be haunted by it. They will suffer nightmares and waking dreams until healed of the damage caused by the image. They might even be drawn to correct a wrong they have seen or aid a lost soul. Precognitive This is considered the most slippery and dangerous of all the ESP abilities, and the most controversial. Interestingly it is the most often calmed and "demonstrated". It is highly subjective and difficult to prove or disprove. The tabloids are full of supposed psychics. The very nature of time is responsible, the Laws of the Conservation of Time mean that the further into the possible future you look the less likely that particular future will become. The very act of looking, and disliking what you find can assure it will never happen, or assure that it will. The oft mentioned "destiny" that many speak of. Who has it? Humans, Vulcans, some Ane, Tanuki are noted as having these abilities. Category:Psionics Category:Intangibles Category:Lexicon